Customer Story
ISN Improves Fill Rates 50% and Overstocks 30% with Blue Ridge
Overview
ISN, an automotive aftermarket distributor, implemented Blue Ridge in August 2021 to keep fill rates high while optimizing inventory turns. Over a 12-month period, the team improved fill rates by 50%, overstocks by 30%, and service level goals by 30%.
Industry
Automotive
Solutions
Demand Planning
Replenishment
IBP
Inventory Optimization / MEIO
Challenges
ISN struggled to keep fill rates high while also optimizing inventory turns.
Before Blue Ridge, ISN was struggling to keep its fill rate up while also keeping inventory turns optimized. As the team evaluated companies, it looked for more than a one-time implementation. Stephanie Hunn, Senior Manager, Planning, says what stood out about Blue Ridge was the onboarding, the training, and the system improvements ISN would receive over time.
Overstocks at other locations and very large pack sizes made buys hard to right-size.
ISN’s private brand team is where the hardest inventory questions surfaced. That team places ISN’s multi-echelon orders, and it faced overstocks at other locations along with pack sizes that were very large compared with demand.
Challenge 01
Balancing fill rate and inventory turns
Challenge 02
Overstock across locations, oversized packs
Solutions
Forecasting, multi-echelon ordering, and a partner involved from day one
ISN uses Blue Ridge Demand Planning and Replenishment to plan and order across its network.
Before Blue Ridge, ISN was struggling to keep its fill rate up while also keeping inventory turns optimized. As the team evaluated companies, it looked for more than a one-time implementation. Stephanie Hunn, Senior Manager, Planning, says what stood out about Blue Ridge was the onboarding, the training, and the system improvements ISN would receive over time.
ISN's private brand team uses MEIO to order in bulk into a hub, then break orders down into smaller pallets for transfer to branches.
ISN’s private brand team is where the hardest inventory questions surfaced. That team places ISN’s multi-echelon orders, and it faced overstocks at other locations along with pack sizes that were very large compared with demand.
ISN’s team was trained on everything from the start and continues to benefit from system improvements over time.
ISN’s Strategic Success Consultant has been with the team the whole way, helping roll out processes and new ideas.
Solution 01
Forecasting and replenishment
Solution 02
Multi-echelon ordering for private brands
Solution 03
Onboarding, training, and ongoing improvements
Solution 04
Strategic Success Consultant from day one
Results
50% higher fill rates, 30% fewer overstocks, and results from the first day
50%
Improvement in fill rates over 12 months
30%
Improvement in overstocks over 12 months
ISN implemented Blue Ridge in August 2021 and saw results quickly. Over a recent 12-month period, the team improved overstocks by 30%, fill rates by 50%, and service level goals by 30%.
The whole planning and buying team loves the system, according to Stephanie Hunn, Senior Manager, Planning.
“We implemented Blue Ridge in August 2021 and saw results immediately. Even just looking at the last 12 months, we’ve improved our overstocks by 30% and our fill rates by 50%”.
Stephanie Hunn
Senior Manager, Planning
A Strategic Success Consultant who has been there the whole way
For ISN, the relationship extends well beyond go-live. “The Blue Ridge [Strategic Success Practice] team is absolutely phenomenal,” Stephanie says. “He’s been with us the whole way, helping us roll out any processes we have, new ideas. We always run everything past him.”
That support reaches into the details. The Strategic Success Consultant worked closely with the private brand team on its MEIO ordering, where orders go in bulk into a hub and out to branches. The Consultant helped the team work through overstocks at other locations and modify buys when pack sizes were large compared with demand.
Looking Ahead
A system the whole team loves
“Blue Ridge has been the most user-friendly, results-driven system that I’ve seen so far – and our whole planning and buying team absolutely loves it.”
ISN’s experience comes down to results that arrived quickly, a platform that is easy to learn, and a partner that stays involved. Stephanie says Blue Ridge makes sure the team is trained on everything, so they know exactly what they are doing.
Her advice to other distributors is direct: “I would recommend it to anyone – anyone.”
Customer Stories
Hear from the businesses making every decision count
“The ERP handles transactions. Blue Ridge handles the intelligence. That's the difference.”
Brad Smith
SVP, Procurement & Sales
Southwest Traders supplies national restaurant chains – Panera, Einstein, Starbucks, Panda Express – from a buying team of nine to eleven working on an AS/400 ERP. Blue Ridge cut order-build time from days to a few hours, held service levels at 99.95% across blue-chip customers, and let the company onboard new brands without adding to the planning team.
99.95%
Service level across national restaurant brands
~18.5
Days on hand
“Blue Ridge has been the most user-friendly, results-driven system that I've seen so far. Our whole planning and buying team absolutely loves it.”
Stephanie Hunn
Senior Manager, Planning
Before Blue Ridge, ISN was struggling to optimize fill rate and inventory turns simultaneously. The team evaluated multiple vendors and chose Blue Ridge for the onboarding, training, and ongoing system improvements baked into the relationship. They went live and saw measurable results from the first operating cycle forward – with the Strategic Success Practice supporting every step.
~99%
Forecast accuracy maintained
50%
Improvement in fill rates over twelve months
“The goal wasn't just to reduce inventory. It was to have what we need, when we need it. That's exactly what Blue Ridge helped us do.”
David Mays
VP of Operations
West Virginia Electric Supply is an electrical distributor running eight branches on the Eclipse ERP. Centralizing inventory and moving to data-led replenishment let the team strip out the dead stock that had quietly accumulated for years – while service to contractors and customers held above 96% and the planning organization shifted from firefighting to forward-looking decisions.
70–80%
Reduction in dead stock
96.3%
Service level to contractors and customers
"Blue Ridge has the best interface and analytics you would need as a professional purchasing buyer"
Thelma Chavez
Director of Operations
Jackson Systems is a six-division HVAC distributor generating roughly $40M in annual revenue. Before Blue Ridge, the planning team reviewed every SKU manually – a process measured in days, not hours. Exception-based planning compressed that work, freed cash from excess stock, and pushed service levels into a range the team had never sustained before.
~$1M
Drop in inventory on hand
98.1%
Service level, up from 88%
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